When the news broke in late March about the chief rabbi of Russia denouncing Reform Jews, Rabbi Pamela Frydman Baugh got angry.
The president of Ohalah, the professional organization of Renewal rabbis, Baugh, who lives in Daly City, immediately got on the phone to see how the organization could offer its support.
Rabbi Berel Lazar had written an article in the Russian-language Chabad magazine, LeChaim, in which he said, “Reform Judaism can’t be labeled as religion if we take religion seriously.”
Though a group of Reform rabbis in Russia responded to Lazar’s attack, Baugh spoke to some Ohalah board members who thought the Russian rabbis could use more support. They drafted a letter. But while they were doing so, Baugh learned that the situation extends into Belarus and Ukraine as well.
The organization of Renewal rabbis and cantors turned it into an open letter, and it now has 58 signatures, including 13 Renewal rabbis and cantors from Northern California.
“It is very distressing and spiritually painful to see that elements of the Chabad Movement, a movement which is deeply immersed in service to God, have allowed a prominent spokesman to violate the sacred principle of Klal Yisrael and summarily break the sacred Jewish unity by attempting to vilify, minimalize and exclude from the holy covenant between God and Israel, another movement whose commitment to serve God is pure and strong and sorely needed in today’s world,” the letter said.
Remarking that for many modern Jews, Reform Judaism is most relevant to them, the Renewal rabbis wrote, “We, therefore, call upon our beloved and holy brothers and sisters in Chabad to open their hearts to the many beautiful and diverse, meaningful ways in which the Holy Blessed One manifests His presence in the world and fulfills the divine purpose for the Jewish people and for the entire world.”
Lazar argued that Reform Judaism is mostly an American construct and therefore based on American values, meaning materialism.
Saying that Reform synagogues were more like special interest-clubs, the Chabad rabbi wrote, “It seems odd to me that the directors of these clubs call themselves rabbis.”
Lazar concluded by saying that “fortunately, all efforts to plant this American invention in Russian soil, with God’s help, have failed,” and that even the most non-religious Russian Jews would rather go to a synagogue similar to the one his or her ancestors went to.
Baugh contacted the Reform movement’s headquarters in New York, which suggested she speak to Steve Bauman, chairman of the North American council of the World Union of Progressive Judaism and a Los Altos resident.
Bauman said the best possible outcome of the letter would be if Lazar took back his comments. “My understanding of Chassidism is that they were the reformers of their day,” said Bauman. “They thought strict intention and passion and love and celebration was most important. They brought song back to the sanctuary, and brought this wonderful renewal to Jewish life, and that spirit has infused what Reform does today.”
Bauman said the letter could help raise awareness about this issue. Additionally , he said, many Reform and Conservative Jews — his friends included — regularly give money to Chabad, not knowing that in some cases their work undermines the very movements to which they belong.
“When that money is used to feed lies against us, we have to take a stand to let them know their money could be fueling this internecine warfare instead of other things,” he said. “My hope is that by another organization coming aboard, more people will know this and question where their money goes.”
Area rabbis and cantors who signed the letter are Baugh, Rabbi Eli Cohen of Santa Cruz, Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan of Chico, Rabbi Steven Fisdel of Millbrae, Rabbi Dan Goldblatt of Danville, Chaya Gusfield, rabbinical student of Oakland, Cantor Richard Kaplan of Oakland, Lori Klein, rabbinical student of Capitola, Rabbi Michael Lerner of Berkeley, Rabbi Paula Marcus of Santa Cruz, Rabbi Leah Novick of Carmel, Rabbi Michael Ziegler of Berkeley, and Rabbi Meryam Zislovich of Forest Knolls.